Make It Yourself Project Number One – Dishwasher Detergent
Dishwasher detergent was one of the first “make it yourself” projects that I took on. It was very simple to mix, the ingredients were easy to find, and it seemed like something that could save me money since I run my dishwasher every single day. I looked up the recipe on several sites just to see the different variations on it and they were basically all the same.
To Make Your Own Dishwasher Detergent
You’re going to need:
- Baking Soda
- Borax
- Container to store it in
- Scoop
You can make the batch up in any size you’d like, just mix equal parts baking soda and borax. Some other recipes call for Koolaid but I opted not to add it. Use 1-2 Tablespoons of your mixture (less for soft water, more for hard water). A very important consideration for this is to make sure you’re using a rinse aid. Again – do it yourself! You can fill up your rinse aid dispenser with vinegar or add a bit to the rinse cycle.
My Verdict on Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
Indeed it was easy to make – it took a whopping minute to measure and mix. Definitely inexpensive – two positives so far. Now, here’s the killer! My dishes didn’t come out clean and they had this nasty powdery residue left on them. I even ran them through an additional rinse cycle and the gritty mess wouldn’t come off. Long story short, some of my dishes still had grit after several wash cycles so I had to wash them by hand. I investigated this on the internet and some people said that maybe I used too much detergent, so I cut back. Better, but still not acceptable. Some people say it was the rinse agent, so I added extra vinegar to the rinse cycle. Again, better, but there was still too much grit on them for my taste (no pun intended because you could actually TASTE the baking soda on the glasses!).
This little experiment probably cost me more than it saved me because I had to wash the dishes so many times. This is not something I recommend because for me it just did not work well no matter what I did to correct the problem.
So what do I recommend? I went out and bought the largest box of Cascade I could find. Why the name brand? Because the larger box was cheaper per ounce than the generic! And the results?? My dishes sparkle again and are super clean.
Now if you want to try to save a little more money just cut the amount of detergent you use in your cups. This is something you’ll have to experiment with based on what kind of water you have but I find that I can fill each one half way and it works fine. Some people are able to leave the prewash cup empty and fill the regular cup 1/4 full and it works for them. Just experiment and find out for yourself!
Well thanks for testing that for us! I was going to try something similar this coming weekend, but you saved me that trouble! & don’t worry about it costing you “extra” this time: Now you know, and the only real cost was the electricity to run your washing machine, not much really. Oh, and time.
Now you know, that that thought won’t be running in the back of your head, “Is this really worth paying for?”
Our glasses were all spotty when we made our own detergent, so on a whim we tried a compromise that turned out great — we mix our homemade stuff with a box of name-brand stuff. We use about a 1:3 ratio — one box of “real” detergent, and 3 boxes worth of our own. It works perfectly.
(It’s funny that you mentioned tasting the baking soda — I can totally taste the nasty perfume in Cascade! It’s much more manageable when it’s diluted in my own mix. )
And if you have a coupon for a certain brand and use it when that brand is also on sale, all the better!
thanks much, brother
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